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Starting this month, Syracuse Police Department has a new automatic license plate reader provider: Axon Enterprise.

Axon, which replaced the city’s previous reader provider, Flock Safety, is a technology company that produces law enforcement technology. Flock came under intense scrutiny nationally due to data-sharing connections with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Local demonstrators rallied against Flock and other companies with federal relationships, including Axon.

The Syracuse Common Council approved a new, almost $423,000 five-year license plate reader contract with Axon at a Feb. 9 meeting, despite some pushback from protesters. Although the company is new to providing ALPR technology in the city, it is not new to Syracuse altogether.

Here’s the rundown on Axon’s presence in Syracuse and beyond.

Axon is already a Syracuse contractor

Before the ALPR deal, SPD had a $1.4 million contract with Axon for an array of cameras, including police body, patrol car dashboard and interview room cameras.

The company also provides SPD with Tasers and drones, and its “Drones as a First Responder” program remains pending approval by the city government due to privacy concerns.

Axon, the country’s largest manufacturer of body-worn cameras, also supplies Tasers, body cameras and other equipment to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. Among other contracts, the company received $11.8 million to supply Tasers to ICE and United States Border Patrol.

The Arizona-based company is valued at around $40 billion and is best known for the product it was once named for, the Taser.

When Democrats pushed for body camera rules for the Department of Homeland Security in the fallout of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, Axon jumped at the opportunity — and has reported record revenue in 2026.

Axon’s license plate readers

ALPRs from suppliers like Axon and Flock assist law enforcement by automatically aiding in stolen vehicle investigations, tracking suspects in real time and gathering evidence.

Axon’s flagship license plate product, Fleet 3, features a dual-view camera and a 4K image sensor for its AI-enabled plate-reading software.

When a Fleet 3 reader scans a plate, it compares its numbers to a list of plate numbers associated with criminal activity, which the company calls “hotlists.”

According to Axon, the Fleet 3 system exceeds “legacy” readers with a 60-degree field of view, which covers “three lanes out to 50 feet away,” nearly 90 times greater than other providers.

Axon says the data it collects is encrypted, stored on its hub and securely uploaded to cloud storage.

Surveillance concerns remain

Although Axon isn’t Flock, the privacy and surveillance concerns associated with license plate reader technology “apply to any company,” said Sidney Thaxter, a senior litigator for the Fourth Amendment Center at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

While Flock is the largest plate reader company — and the one “steeped in the most controversy” — privacy experts have “seen equally problematic systems built by other companies,” Thaxter said.

Some legal scholars worry ALPR technology poses “serious civil rights and civil liberties concerns,” including potential violations of Fourth Amendment rights.

Axon did not reply to multiple requests for comment.

While case law has found that a single instance of using cameras may not violate the Fourth Amendment, multiple cameras across enough locations could. The American Civil Liberties Union wrote in 2023 Flock was “blanketing American cities with dangerously powerful and unregulated” technology.

Privacy concerns were behind the city’s split from Flock, which contracted LPRs to the city, Destiny USA and Syracuse University. Flock’s fleet of cameras, which its website describes as “the largest fixed LPR network,” could create a national database, legal experts warned.

SU did not confirm whether it is still under contract with Flock. Last fall, the university announced a handful of Flock-run readers on campus. In December, Common Councilors revoked Flock’s access to two readers previously approved adjacent to SU’s campus.

Flock assures users its technology does not infringe on the Fourth Amendment because license plates are government-approved and sit in public locations. The company says its technology doesn’t “track people,” and data is controlled by those who own it.

Last year, investigative reporting found Flock allowed the federal government, including ICE and other entities, to access audits. SPD later learned it had shared its data with other law enforcement and immigration agencies.

“SPD retains full ownership and control of its data,” a Flock spokesperson told The Daily Orange last fall.

Although Syracuse residents wanted Flock removed, some activists also called on the Common Council to “melt” its contracts with any company that does business with ICE, including Axon. A small group of protesters voiced concern during the council meeting at which councilors approved the Axon deal.

“We have been very cautious and very careful, and we will continue to be very careful, with technology in the city,” Jimmy Monto, a 5th district councilor, said at the Feb. 9 meeting. “Especially surveillance technology.”

Axon has drawn criticism for using artificial intelligence to write police reports and for previous proposals, like a plan to mount Tasers on drones.

License plate reader privacy concerns depend on the number of cameras, where they are located, how long data is retained, who has access and the terms of the sharing agreements. Like with Flock, those factors “affect the scope and invasiveness of the surveillance,” Thaxter said.

More on license plate technology and Axon

• SU says DPS controls oversight, law enforcement’s access to campus Flock data
• Syracuse Common Council votes to install Axon readers despite pushback
• Lawmakers revoke permission for 2 SU-adjacent Flock readers
• Common Council authorizes city agreement with Axon Enterprise

Published on March 22, 2026 at 8:11 pm
Contact Griffin: gbrown19@syr.edu